Look I did it, I made it back to writing a Saturday Here’s What’s Up post! Woo hoo! Sometimes it really is the small victories. 😉
Okay, so what is up? Well, here’s what’s up:
The point of this post is to share some resources/apps I use for my writing as well as to describe how I use a variety of methods to work on my novel. Sometimes it’s not a enough to just sit down with a pad of paper and a pen. Other times you just don’t have the time or capacity to hammer out a whole paragraph but you’re internally driven to work on your world and/or the story. If you don’t have the resources and/or flexibility to capitalize on that drive you might wind up doing something else entirely, liking surfing the net perhaps? Or social media? Yep, that kind of stuff. Allow me then to provide you some suggestions based on my own methodology.
Voice Recorder
I have a couple different voice recording apps on my phone. Honestly I haven’t gotten into their details and just what all they can do or even compared them to each other. I just use them to record what I’m saying to capture my ideas. If I was going to present this recording I might care more but that’s another story.
When I’m in the car or walking my dog I can’t very well write, not by hand or by keyboard. But that doesn’t stop my wheels from turning (pun intended). It would be a tremendous waste to just let those thoughts go to the wayside. Maybe you have a great memory and those thoughts aren’t wasted but why take the chance? Sometimes I won’t need to listen to the recording afterward when I can write because I do remember, the very act of recording meant those thoughts were fleshed out and implanted in my brain.
I have a bluetooth headset that I wear so I’m not walking or driving around holding my phone talking into it. Turn on the voice recorder, record the date and time and maybe even what I’m doing and what’s happening in my life, then start talking. There are times I know just what I want to talk about – my character’s backstory or a new plot twist – and other times I have no idea what I want to talk about but I want to work on my story. In those cases I start off with what I last worked on in my story then I think about something that was a problem there or I think about what should happen next. Just talk to yourself, brainstorm. You might find this is easier than writing because you don’t have to edit your sentences or edit yourself as you would while writing actual chapters. Say whatever, discuss who, what, when, where, why, how, first, next, then, finally. Use voice recording for free form brainstorming.
Mindjet Maps
This is a specific app I use on my devices and have for some time. I use the free version and it works just fine for my informal yet important purpose. This app allows you to create maps for ideas, notes, tasks, etc. Think bubbles connected by lines to other bubbles, webs of ideas. It’s fabulous! You can zoom in and out, use dropbox (although I haven’t tried that yet), access anywhere, open and close branches of the web/map so you don’t have to see everything all at once or see it all open before you.
I use this resource when I don’t have a lot of time to write or I’m not in a position to haul out my portable keyboard, laptop or even a notebook. Sometimes that’s just too much. Mindjet Maps is great for me when I’m not drawn to working in complete sentences or paragraphs but I still want to work on story details. For example, I have a map of one my main character’s family and background. There’s a branch for her paternal and maternal families. These details are relevant to my story so it’s important I flesh out the details and know them at least for myself. There are bubbles for his mom, dad, siblings, birth, death, career, hobbies, and more. You can even draw arrows from one bubble to another to tie them together or make notes pertaining to a particular bubble. You can use icons, a variety of colors, and all sorts of customization, although you can’t use just any shape of bubble, you’ve got 3-4 options mostly just size difference.
These maps can serve as great references for when you are back to formally writing. Here you can record names and statistics such as age, schooling, career, hobby, physical details, family, etc. It’s also satisfying to work with this visual, especially if you’re a nerd you’ll have fun creating all kinds of new branches! This can be a great way to source new ideas if you’re having trouble. It’s a new way of looking at things as opposed to just strings of words on the page.
OneNote
This is a Microsoft service provided with Microsoft Office. You can download it across your devices as well as use on your computer. This means you can access it across devices, of course. I’ve been using OneNote for a long time so it tends to be my preferred program though Google drive/docs can serve a similar purpose.
Within OneNote you create “notebooks” that you can share with others should you want to. Once you’ve created your notebook (and you can make as many as you want) you then create and use as many folders as you’d like, they look like tabs across the top. And this goes on and on like having a notebook with an infinite number of “subjects” inside. You create pages within your folders and can go further to have subpages for those pages. You can move sections or pages from one folder to another. You can, let’s say you’re on a touchscreen with a stylus pen, use the handwriting function and write into the document. Your writing opens a block that you can move around the page, should you want to move horizontally you can, thereby dividing the page up how you want. You can do all that you would in word but more. It’s excellent.
OneNote saves and syncs automatically as you write, assuming you’re on a network that is it syncs automatically. So go ahead and type three pages on your computer, then when you’re in the waiting room sitting pull up OneNote on your phone and go over what you wrote, make changes, add to it, whatever. Go home later and pick up where you left off.
Scrivener
Last but not least, and newest to me, is Scrivener. I heard of this software long before I actually downloaded it for NaNoWriMo 2017. It is a paid service but I think it’s quite reasonable and worth it.
I’m still learning my way around Scrivener and haven’t been using it a lot lately for no other reason than I just haven’t. It’s not as accessible as some of these other programs I’ve described. I only use it on my laptop and desktop which I think is all you can do. But that doesn’t make it any less worth using.
In terms of organization it gets down to work even more so than OneNote although it is similar in that it’s arranged like a binder with folders and tabs and documents. You can create multiple binders and break them down from there. While Scrivener looks a little more primitive it’s complex and starts you off with a tutorial on how to use it. You can create notecards, use templates such as character sketch, and more. Also Scrivener provides the option to compile all your work together as a novel when you are done. You can sync and back up your documents and it saves automatically as you work. Also when you open a new project you have the option to choose blank, fiction, non-fiction, scriptwriting, or miscellaneous.
I’m not going to go into anymore detail here as I’m still very much learning this software but I do recommend it. You’ll find that this is a popular and well known program among writers.
I need not mention but will, that I use pieces of paper (to add to binders later), notebooks of paper, notepads and journals to write as well. I might also use note cards although my organizational skills are lacking and will get a good heave-ho here soon. Also, I have a whiteboard set up on the wall in my house. This is a new thing but I’m looking forward to finding how best to use this for my story. So, here’s what’s up!
What about you? Do you use any of these tools for writing? Do you use others?
If you would like to share this post please link back to me and share proper credit. If you find this helpful hit the like button and let me know, I’d love to hear about how this helped you or how you’ve used these tools to your advantage. I really hope to share what I can that gets me through the process and gets my ideas flowing.
Don’t forget to check out my latest writing exercise post and let me know if you give it a try. I’m digging it!
Like any job it’s important to have the necessary tools. Thanks so much for visiting and reading. Have a lovely day.